Your body is the carrier of all your emotions, stress and fears. It is also the key to rising above them.
Being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) wasn’t always easy. As a child, like me, you were probably called “too sensitive.” Maybe you felt misunderstood or different because you loved your inner world as much (or more) than your outer world. After all, we are HSPs are deep thinkers.
Maybe you were the black sheep of your family, or maybe you were the popular “good kid” who always did what they were told. You may have experienced both. Maybe you felt the weight of the world on your shoulders because you did, and that’s why you felt responsible for the emotions of everyone around you.
On the other hand, maybe special HSP gifts hugged and cared for. Depending on how you were taught to deal with your sensitivity—and the validation you received for your unique differences—you either grew up accepting your sensitivity or feeling ashamed of it.
These are all common experiences of sensitive people, though not exclusive to HSPs. And experiences are important, as they determine how much self-confidence we have, how we love and express our gifts in the world.
Even if you were trained to do it embrace your sensitivity at home, you probably didn’t make it to adulthood as an HSP without experiencing the contrast of individual wiring as it defied the cultural status quo.
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Overcoming Self-Confidence Barriers as an HSP
Highly sensitive people often struggle with self-confidence. To cope, you may overcompensate and numb your feelings. You go against your instincts. You don’t rest when you’re exhausted or tired. You turn to (toxic) people you should move away. You get on your nerves and criticize yourself.
And you end up losing yourself.
You do things that ultimately don’t feel satisfying or fulfilling because your ancient ancestral biology motivated them. It requires the clan to fit in and accept you, not the enthusiastic, authentic you.
Although at first glance it’s easy to focus on the special challenges that HSPs face (and yes, it’s easier for us to become overstimulated and emotionally overwhelmed if we’re not in a good self-care routine). But our emotional control should not be ignored. When we do the most, we do it with heart, depth and nuance.
One of the things that helped me get through my self-doubt was being whole just accepting my existing gifts because I’m sensitive. I also had to let go of the idea that I could ever be like anyone else, but I am a very good me. Which leads to…
What are our HSP gifts?
We HSPs have an enormous capacity for pleasure. We are often very creative and original as well as independent and complex thinkers.
We process all aspects of life and deeply digest our experiences. We have a huge inner life and by nature we are empathetic and considerate, thoughtful, quiet and solitary, cautious and prepared, deeply feeling and heartfelt.
We pick up on subtleties that others miss. We are detail oriented and many sensitive people experience an empathic connection with animals and/or have strong spiritual tendencies.
So what to do with these wonderful HSP gifts? We connect with them through mind-body exercises.
Get in touch with your gifts with mind-body practices
The body is the vehicle through which all this happensboth pleasant and unpleasant feelings. And it usually feels like it’s happening thee. But what if you could take back the power and control which way it went better? You can do this by returning home to the body.
I’m a huge advocate of starting a mind-body practice, especially one that brings you joy. This begins the process of discovering the wisdom of the body and building the intelligence of the body. This applies to everyone, but is of particular importance to the highly sensitive person.
We are perfectly suited to easily study mind-body connection techniques because we have the calmness, inner curiosity and awareness of our feelings that these practices require.
HSPs also get the most bang for their buck when they start a mind-body (or joy) practice because they bring the gems out of perceived weaknesses.
The benefits of mind-body practice align with your strengths, strengthen them and make them even stronger, bringing them out of the shadows and into the light. Your gentle kindness is honed into compassion. Your sensitive nervous system it becomes a nuanced system that lets you know sooner when you become emotionally “flooded”. and must be regulated. Your “wrong” sexuality becomes a place for raw instinctual knowing, spiritual connection, and natural flow of pleasure.
do you see There are so many different areas of your life that relate to the mind-body connection. Let’s take a look at some exercises to better unlock your HSP gifts.
Need to soothe your sensitive nervous system?
HSPs often live with high levels of anxiety, sensory overload, and stress—and negative emotions can overwhelm us. But what if you finally felt at ease?
This is what you will find in it this effective online course Julie Bjelland, one of the best HSP therapists in the world. You will learn to turn off the racing thoughts, end the emotional outpouring, eliminate the sensory overload, and finally make room for your sensitive gifts to shine.
Stop feeling held back and start believing that you can handle anything. Check out this “HSP Toolbox” and start making changes today. Click here for more information.
3 mind-body exercises to release your HSP gifts
1. Build more joy into your everyday life.
The deep emotional capacity of a highly sensitive person means when we feel good, we feel it deeply and on all levels. Joy produces hormones in the body such as serotonin and oxytocin, which increase energy, confidence and a sense of belonging.
Therefore, I recommend that you create a daily practice for receiving pleasant sensations. This could mean petting your cat or dog, or sitting on your porch in the morning sunlight with a cup of herbal tea, really tasting every bite of your food, smelling your favorite scent or imagining how your body reacts when you feel loved.
2. Accept all your experiences with equal enthusiasm.
It’s easy to love when you feel good and to push away what’s not good – and yes, to keep putting energy into feeling better day after day. But if unpleasant feelings do it get up when the dust has settled and you’re back on solid ground, look for the silver lining in that particular rain cloud.
Can you find joy in those so-called “uncomfortable” feelings?
Instead of analyzing or beating yourself up, be curious about how hard experiences strengthen your intuition each time. As a very sensitive person, you know this too your intuition is one of your strongest HSP giftsso make the most of it.
3. Question every critical thought.
When critical thoughts arise or come from outside – which we HSPs do not usually love – examine thoughts or criticisms. Ask yourself:
- true?
- Why do I like to cling to the idea or experience of criticism?
- Who would I be without it?
- Who does my deepest authentic self know me as?
We are at a time in history when it is not “cool” to be sensitive in mainstream societybut your uniqueness is valuable and necessary. We are the leaders who teach a new way. We are the healers of the big sensation-seekers in a hurry. Our delicate, gentle nature is the medicine, but first we have to satiate ourselves with this medicine by savoring every sensation and feeling good in the joy of our body and heart.
The world needs more empowered sensitives who fully embrace their unique gifts. I’m talking about intuitive, receptive, look before you leap, creative, peace-loving, emotionally intelligent, empathic souls. Your voice is needed in the social narrative to balance the impulsive Type A culture. And remember: nature designed it this way – it’s why you exist.
Would you like personal help with intimacy and relationships at HSP? Jin offers private coaching online or in person and can be contacted here: TheLadyJin.com.
